2025-12-15 Liquor Commission Minutes Hilo (Special Meeting)

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Okabe: Next one, No. 2, if you were in our position, why would we hire you? Kouchi: I would hire me because I bring a strong combination of practical enforcement, leadership experience, and informal education in political science with a focus on law, public policy, and government. My degree and my experience have provided me with a foundation in statutory interpretation, regulatory frameworks, and the administrative processes which has directly influenced my work over the past 11 years with this Department. My approach with regulation is not just from an enforcement perspective, but through a policy considering the legislative intent of each law, the Commission's intent of each rule, due process and the broader interest as a whole in our community. That approach has guided my work in developing investigative procedures, our current auditing process, and also to make sure that they are both legally sound and operationally effective. I understand it is the Director's responsibility to carry out the Commission's policy direction, but he also needs to make sure that everything is consistent, fair, and that any enforcement is intensive. I believe I offer the Commission a Director who is prepared to lead from day one with sound judgment, continuity, and a clear understanding of how policy enforcement can impact the community and the liquor industry as a whole. Okabe: No. 3, what would you consider your strengths and your weaknesses, and what would you do to improve in the areas that are not your strengths? Kouchi: One of my greatest strengths is my comprehensive understanding of our liquor laws, our policies, and our operations. Again, with over 11 years in this Department, under the Department of Liquor Control, I understand how the law is written, what its intent is and how it's applied in practice, and how a decision at the Director's level affects staff, licensees, the economy, and the community. This allows me to make consistent, fair, and defensible decisions. Another strength is leadership and team development. As a supervisor currently, I focus on bringing up our staff, their training, their accountability while maintaining strong working relationships and clear expectations. An area that I continue to strengthen is the higher -level administrative side particularly with longer -range planning and budget awareness, those are just two things that I feel that I need to strengthen. For example, while developing and influencing our current auditing procedures, I became more involved with the administrative reporting and the tracking of recovered revenues, which reinforced the importance of aligning enforcement with fiscal accountability and long-term planning in that sense. Since then, I've been intentional about expanding my administrative focus through program planning, budget review and building procedures with clear reporting and sustainability. see this as a necessary part of growing into the full scope of the Director's role. MINUTES - LIQUOR COMMISSION MEETING SPECIAL MEETING - MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2025 - HILO PAGE 7 OF 35